pennyspoetryfandomcom-20200214-history
Eliza Cook
| birth_place = London Road, Southwark, England | death_date = September | death_place = Wimbledon, London, England | nationality = English | period = 1830s-1880s | influences = | influenced = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} Eliza Cook (24 December 1818 - 23 September 1889) was an English poet, and prose author. Life Cook was born in London Road, Southwark, the daughter of a local tradesman. She attended the local Sunday Schools and was encouraged by the son of the music master to produce her first volume of poetry. In 1835, while only 17 years of age, she published her first volume titled Lays of a Wild Harp. From this she took confidence, and in 1837 began to offer verse to the radical Weekly Dispatch, then edited by William Johnson Fox. She was a staple of its pages for the next ten years. In 1838 she published Melaia, and other poems, and from 1849 to 1854 wrote, edited, and published Eliza Cook's Journal, a weekly periodical she described as one of "utility and amusement." Cook also published Jottings from my Journal (1860), and New Echoes (1864). She also offered material to The Literary Gazette, Metropolitan Magazine and New Monthly. http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/britishlibrary-store/Components/642/64234_1.jpg Her work for the Dispatch and New Monthly was later pirated by George Julian Harney for the Chartist newspaper The Northern Star. Familiar with the London Chartist movement, in its various sects, she followed many of the older radicals in disagreeing with the O'Brienites and O'Connorites in their disregard for repeal of the Corn Laws. She also preferred the older Radicals' path of Friendly Societies and self-education. Her poem The Old Armchair (1838) made her a household name for a generation, both in England and in America. Cook was a proponent of political and sexual freedom for women, and believed in the ideology of self-improvement through education, something she called "levelling up." This made her a great favourite with the working-class public. Her works became a staple of anthologies throughout the century. Cook died in Wimbledon, London. Writing Critical introduction by John H. Ingram An almost contemptuous indifference has succeeded to the extensive popularity once enjoyed by Eliza Cook. The reaction, although not inexplicable, is to some extent undeserved. During the latter portion of her life her reputation was unduly depressed, owing to her lengthy withdrawal from the world through ill-health; but some of her lyrics are still familiar, and many of them are worthy of preservation. It has been the fashion to weigh the merits of Eliza Cook by an unjust standard. She did not attempt to please poets or philosophers — her audience was the people. Her muse, though homely in attire, could touch the hearts of those to whom the philosophy of Shelley, or the psychology of Browning, was incomprehensible. She had her mission, and fulfilled it honestly. She carried pathos and true sentiment into hearts and homes, where little but vulgarity and commonplaceness dwelt. Modern England is singularly deficient in poets who can touch the nation’s heart. She has poets, true and great, but they are only for the educated classes; the masses have but few minstrels now-a-days, whose lays are fit for their firesides. The songs of Béranger, Petöfi, Burns, can still excite the emotions of the labouring folks more than they can the high-strung feelings of the educated of their nationalities; but the English possess no such influential bards. Eliza Cook sang for the people, and was comprehended of the people and her influence was ever for their good. She inculcated independence, integrity, a love of home, and a sturdy patriotism; and although beauty rather than morality may be the truest theme for poetry, the class of readers Eliza Cook appealed to were better able to understand and profit by moral themes, especially when they were presented to them in a self-respective instead of in the usual mawworm manner. Eliza Cook’s themes may be trivial, but they touch home, and have often caused the eyes to dim with tears—the lips to quiver with emotion—of those whose hearts have long been closed to any softening influence. Adverse criticism notwithstanding, it may be confidently claimed for Eliza Cook that she was and is a poet of the people: a poet whose works are filled with sympathy for the downtrodden and helpless, the earth-weary and oppressed. Her works are characterised by purity of tone, clearness of expression, and an entire absence of straining for effect. In her verse, sound ever echoes sense, and rhyme is always accompanied by reason. No writer has been more national, without being narrow-minded, than Eliza Cook; and whilst in sympathy with the suffering of all humanity, she took pre-eminently to heart the precept, “Poet, of thine own country sing.” Naturally, several of her lyrics were only of transient interest, referring as they did to such contemporary events as the Lancashire Cotton Famine, the Shakespeare Tercentenary, Garibaldi’s Visit to England, and the like; but many of them strike those chords of the human heart, which are of ever-enduring vitality, and deal with thoughts and themes that age cannot stale, nor repetition dull.John H. Ingram, "Critical and Biographical Essay: Eliza Cook (1818–1889)", Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century (edited by Alfred H. Miles). London: Routledge / New York: E.P. Dutton, 1907. Bartleby.com, Web, May 24, 2014. Recognition In 1863 Cook was awarded a Civil List pension income of £100 a year. Publications Poetry *''Melaia, and other poems. London: Charles Tilt, 1840; New York: J. & H.G. Langley, 1844. *''Poems: Second series. London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1845. *''The Poetical Works of Mary Howitt, Eliza Cook, and L.E.L.'' (with Mary Howitt and Letitia Elizabeth Landon). Boston: Phillips & Sampson, 1849. *''The Glass of Gin''. New York: Brognard, 1851. *''Poems in 3 4 Volumes''. London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1851-1853. *''The Poems of Eliza Cook: Comprising Melaia, together with her miscellaneous pieces''. Philadelphia: U. Hunt, 1845; London: Leavitt & Allen, 1853. *''Poems. London & New York: Routledge, Warne, & Boutledge, 1861. *''New Echoes, and other poems. London: Routledge, Warne, & Boutledge, 1864. *''The Poetical Works of Eliza Cook: A complete edition. London: F. Warne / New York: Scribner, Welford, 1870. *''The Old Farm Gate. London & New York: Raphael Tuck, 1888. *''The Sea Child'' (edited by Andrea Taylor). Mission, BC: Cotton Socks Press, 2000. Non-fiction *Her article "People Who Do Not Like Poetry" (May 1849), in the book A Serious Occupation: Literary Criticism by Victorian Women Writers ISBN 1-55111-350-3. *''Jottings from My Journal''. London & New York: Routledge, Warne, & Boutledge, 1860. Letters and journals *''Eliza Cooks' Journal''. London: John Owen Clarke, 1849-1854. Volume I, 1849; Volume II, 1850; Volume III, 1851; Volume V, 1851; Volume VI, 1852 Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Eliza Cook, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, July 25, 2013. See also *List of British poets References *Stephen, Leslie, Sidney Lee, H.W. Carless Davis, and J.R.H. Weaver. "Cook, Eliza." The Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. XXII, London: Oxford University Press, 1921. (pp. 478–479) googlebooks Retrieved May 8, 2008 *Beeton, Samuel Orchard. The Young Englishwoman. London: Ward, Lock, and Tyler, 1875. (pp. 615–619) googlebooks Retrieved May 8, 2008 Notes External links ;Poems *"Girls and Boys Come out to Play" *Cook in A Victorian Anthology: "The Quiet Eye," "The Sea-Child" * Selected Poetry of Eliza Cook (1818-1889) (3 poems) at Representative Poetry Online * Eliza Cook at PoemHunter (15 poems) *Eliza Cook at Poetry Nook (104 poems) ;Books *''The poetical works of Eliza Cook'' at Internet Archive ;Audio / video *Eliza Cook at YouTube ;About * Original article is at ``Eliza Cook.`` *[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E0DE5DD1431E13BBC4053DFB667838A649FDE New York Times, October 8, 1851]. As we expected, our article on Miss Eliza Cook has drawn upon us the fierce wrath of a fair lady ... *Critical and Biographical Essay in Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. Category:1818 births Category:1889 deaths Category:Chartists Category:English poets Category:English non-fiction writers Category:English magazine editors Category:Women poets Category:English women writers Category:Poets Category:19th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:19th-century women writers